HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION (An Erotic Billionaire Romance) novel Chapter 169

Meadow’s POV:

My stomach dropped so fast that I thought I might throw up. Juniper was here.

Why the hell was she here? How on earth did she even know where Alaric lived?

“How…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say. “What the hell is she doing here?”

When I looked up at Alaric, his brows were drawn together. “No idea, but…” He trailed off, squinting at something. “Can you see the ring on her finger?”

He clicked on something and the camera angle changed so I could see her more clearly as she ran a hand through her hair.

With a gasp, I quickly sat up, raising my hand to my face as if I didn’t already have my ring on.

“What the…”

The ring on Juniper’s ring finger looked exactly like mine.

Exactly. Like. Mine.

Somehow, Juniper had gone to replicate the ring that Alaric had given me.

“Alaric…” I whispered, shaking my head at him.”What is she doing?” He muttered, rising to his feet as the doorbell rang again. My grip tightened around his phone as I noticed everything else about her. Juniper was still dressed like me, hair styled just like mine used to be. And mere looking at the way she wrung her hands nervously in front of her like she knew Alaric was watching, you would think that she really was me.

There was only one thing different. Cami had cut my hair short earlier, and I suppose she wasn’t aware of that and thought I still had my long hair.

This meant only one thing.

When she’d mentioned deceiving Alaric and I told her to go ahead, I never thought that she would actually go through it.

Okay—I may have thought she would do it, but I didn’t think she would go as far as to duplicate the diamond ring I always wore.

“Alaric,” I muttered as I watched him pull on a pair of sweatpants. “I don’t think Juniper knows that I’m here.”

He paused, hand on the waistband of his pants. I swallowed, getting out of the bed and making my way toward him. Alaric’s gaze heated as it dropped to my body.

My naked body.

My cheeks heated up, but I didn’t do anything to cover up.

His eyes met mine again. “What do you mean, baby?”I stepped closer as the doorbell rang again, and when I looked down at the phone, my sister was shifting from one foot to the other like she was losing her patience.

“The ring on her finger, her mannerisms… she’s…”

“Dressed like you,” Alaric finished for me, taking his phone from me and looking down at it.

I scoffed, shaking my head. “She probably thinks I’m still at my apartment. She thinks she can try to fool you into thinking that she’s me.”

My lips parted but no words came out. I just shook my head, feeling silly for ever having thoughts like this.

Alaric’s gaze narrowed as the bell rang again. “You wound me, Meadow,” he whispered. “I don’t even know whether to be upset that you think so low of me, or show you right now just how crazy I am for you and only you.” He stroked my cheek delicately with his thumb. “Fucking hell.””I’m sorry.” My voice sounded small, so I tried to clear my throat. “You’re right. That wasn’t fair. I’m just so completely thrown off that Juniper would actually come here.”

I’d thought she was going to pull something at Clarissa’s party, but since it didn’t hold, I suppose she wanted to do this by all means.

Alaric’s palm landed hard on my ass before he yanked me closer to him. “I have an even better idea. We ignore your sister and get back into bed.” He pressed a quick kiss to my mouth. “She’s going to stop at some point, when she figures out that you actually have self respect, and wouldn’t even need to knock in order to get in this house.”

I couldn’t stop the grin that fought its way to my face, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Tempting. But I have an idea that’s going to top yours and leave us both satisfied.”

A thrill shot through me as the wheels turned in my head.

Alaric was right. Juniper should’ve known that I wouldn’t need to knock to get in my own husband’s house, but she probably didn’t think that far.

“Mhmm,” he purred against my neck, squeezing my butt cheeks with his large hands. “That’s my girl. Tell me what this plan is.”

My eyes dropped to his mouth and I bit the corner of mine, fighting the urge to just say “fuck it” and ignore Juniper.I forced my gaze to meet his, and then I grinned again.

Okay.”